A few of Tomas’s fellow comrades rode ahead of the carriages when he returned, like him they were all mounted on horses.

He originally planned to have a serious talk with them regarding that shifty character both Tomas and the captain of the carvan’s escort Johnathan had encountered on the road. But much to his annoyance, he was instead greeted with an inappropriate response.

“So I’m guessing that our services were ‘re-hired’ again?”

The joking remark came from a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties and had short dark-blue hair. He wore a light blue aristocratic coat which would have typically be worn by a lower noble. He also wore pristine white silk gloves, both of which were adorned by a blue runic symbol.

His name was Karazhan and he was the one and only arcane mage of the guard escort. While there were indeed other magic casters among the guards, only he specialised in arcane magic.

With no choice, Tomas sighed as he explained what happened.

“Yeah… It’s some random noble who promised us riches in return for safe passage to the nearest city. He seems to be a survivor of a raid and is injured. It’s not too severe but he’ll need clerical aid if he is to survive but…”

Halfway through his words, he found that he lost his voice.

Seeing this, another member of the guard escort, a young woman with long tawny coloured hair, questioned him with a soothing yet confident voice.

“But what? You know that you don’t need to fear for any reprisals from us. We are still comrades in arms after all.”

The young woman, probably also in her early twenties wore a white clerical outfit which was outlined by golden trims and held a book with a brown cover in her right hand.

She was Karmen and she held the profession of a ‘cleric,’ thus dubbing her as a ‘healer.’ He had to pause for a short while to confirm his thoughts before he answered her question.

“But I feel that there is something wrong about this noble. His name is ‘Walter’ and he claimed to belong to an illustrious noble family known as ‘Faust.’ Have any of you heard of it before?”

“I can’t even remember the names of half of the vassal houses under the Eikthyrnir family.”

The third person to speak up and question him was Rogjick. Unlike the other two, he was not a magic caster and was instead simple a swordsman who wore a gambeson, much like Tomas. Rogjick’s disposition was blunt and direct, not mocking and sarcastic like Karazhan or soft and soothing like Karmen.

“Besides, since when were you interested in the nobility anway?”

Like before, it took Tomas a while to reply.

“I… I don’t really… I just have this feeling… you know?”

“No we don’t know.”

The one who spoke was Karazhan, who still had a sarcastic tone in his voice. A few seconds after, another, distinctly feminine voice coughed before speaking up.

“Ehem. Putting Karazhan’s rudeness aside, he is still right you know?”

Karmen paused for a short moment to glare at the arcane mage before continuing in a voice that was lower than normal.

“Well… to a certain to degree anyway.”

“Meh.”

Karazhan only made a casual shrug in response to her words. Soon after, he proceeded to ride back to the caravan before waving his hands and speaking up, all while maintaining a relaxed and carefree disposition.

“It doesn’t really look like I’m needed here anyway. I guess that I’ll just leave you to it.”

A sort of awkward silence occurred as he casually made his way back towards the caravan that was gonna catch up to them anyway. A few short moments after, Karmen scoffed uncharacteristically.

“Hmph. Honestly that man. He… He really gets to me sometimes.”

Tomas couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes and sighing before he forcefully retook control of the conversation. A task which suddenly became a lot easier with the absence of Karazhan.

“Hey guys can we please focus? We were supposed to be talking about that noble man. I just feel that there is something off about him. I don’t really know what it is. I just want to know what you guys think.”

Both of the other two remained quiet for a few seconds, as if to think to themselves before they responded.

“As long as he keeps his promise and the pay is good, then I don’t really mind.”

“We clerics are taught to value human life. The material gain does not concern me.”

Both Rogjick and Karmen gave differing responses respectively, causing Tomas to ask them a question.

“So the two of you really believe that we should help this man?”

This time, only Rogjick replied with a quick and concise answer.

“Yes we do.”

“I... understand…”

Soon after he replied, Karmen reassured him in a calming tone.

“It’s alright. As long as I’m around, no harm will come to any of us.”

“I guess.”

In the end, he could only resign and wait for the carriages to catch up with the trio. When the carriages did catch up, they were all immediately greeted by a joking remark from Karazhan.

“So I assume that you all got it sorted out?”

“More or less.”

It didn’t take long for him to respond to Karmen with a sarcastic joke.

“So that means that you didn’t work it out at all?”

“Tch, what are you even trying to achieve here?”

Within moments, the conversation broke down into a small argument as the arcane mage continued to pester the cleric while they rejoined the caravan. Tomas could even vaguely hear some of the other caravan guards whispering amongst themselves.

“Who even thought that pairing these two together was a good idea?”

“I know right? Putting those two in the same is like throwing a blazing candle into a barrel of blackpowder.”

However, Tomas didn’t really pay attention to their words and instead once again gripped his sword tightly as the familiar silhouette of Johnathan and Walter soon came into view.

“My goodness… That poor man…”

“Ehh… We’ve seen worse.”

“Oh shut up will you?”

The sounds of the two magic casters bickering continued to linger in the background as Tomas examined his friend and mentor, Jonathan the captain of his caravan’s escort as well as the random stranger nobleman, ‘Walter Faust.’

The former was still mounted atop his horse and assumed a relaxed position while the latter slumped onto one of the tree trunks, the blood of his thigh injury staining the trunk. Tomas felt as if the entire scene was an inversion of the natural class hierarchy of society.

The one who was meant to be a lowly captain of a guard escort which protects a trivial supply caravan is confidently mounted atop his steed, literally ‘standing’ higher than his counterpart. While the one who was meant to be a high and mighty nobleman was brought low, seriously injured and forced to seek protection from a group of strangers.

It was peculiar to say the least.

After a short while, the caravan eventually slowed down to a halt under the orders of Johnathan before he proceeded to introduce the enigmatic nobleman to the rest of the party.

“Alright lads, this gentleman here is ‘Walter Faust.’”

Johnathan gestured his hands towards Walter as he spoke.

“The generous Lord Faust here is willing to individually pay us all six months worth of our salary in exchange for safe passage to the city of Belmud.”

He paused for a short moment to confirm if the others understood his words before he resumed speaking.

“Coincidentally, the city of Belmud also happens to be our destination so this ‘side-job’ won’t be much inconvenience us at all. In fact, it won’t even take any extra effort from us.”

As he finished speaking, he made a gesture towards Walter, prompting him to speak.

“Yes, as your captain had said, I simply wish to safely reach Belmud. I can promise you all payment once I regain communications with my family.”

Tomas saw a smile grow on the faces of a few guardsmen as they listened to what Walter had to say. Evidently, the idea of making half a year’s worth of money for no extra effort was very appealing to them.

A few seconds later, Johnathan once again spoke up.

“You heard him lads. Someone get our ‘friend’ a ride.”

As he said that, he turned to face Karmen before he continued.

“See to it that he’s back to full health.”

“Understood.”

As she dismounted her horse in order to perform her healing magic on the injured Walter, Johnathan made another gesture ordering the rest of the caravan to move on. It was only Johnathan, Tomas, Karazhan and Karmen that remained with Walter, with Rogjick having gone with the rest of the caravan as it moved along.

As Karmen approached Walter, she opened up her brown book and read its contents aloud.

“Praise be to our patron Hyperia who continues to guide and protect humanity and her allies against those who seek to subvert our peace and prosperity.”

While she read the book, soft golden light began to emanate out of its pages, making the paper pages of the book look as if they were made of light itself.

“Although it is selfish of me, may I once again ask for her to bestow upon me the ability to heal this man of his afflictions.”

She pointed the palm of her left hand towards him as she completed her spell. Her palm and eyes also began to glow a soft golden colour.

“[Hyperia’s Light]”

The golden lights suddenly glowed brighter in intensity when she declared the name of the spell, forcing Tomas and the others to squint.

When the light dimmed, they found that Walter had been completely healed of his injuries. The crossbow bolt that was previously imbedded into his thigh now laid on the floor.

A sort of relieved expression grew on Walter’s face he realised what had just happened.

Yet for some reason, Tomas felt that there was more to Walter’s smile than what one may think.

…

It had been a few hours since the caravan had picked up Walter and and they were now only less than two hours away from the city of Belmud. During the trip, Karmen found that Walter was actually surprisingly useful. In particular, how he kept Karazhan preoccupied.

If there was one word that she could use to describe him other than ‘annoying,’ ‘aggravating,’ ‘irritating’ and ‘bothersome,’ it would be ‘egotistical.’

For some reason known only by the gods, Walter wouldn’t stop subtly questioning Karazhan about his magic. While he also engaged in small talk with some of the other guards about the current status of their nation, ‘The Principality of Valha,’ it was Karazhan who Walter talked to the most.

Thus he inadvertently prevented the arcane mage from pestering her. However, all good things had to eventually come to an end. Soon, Karazhan’s voice reached her ears.

“You know that you didn’t need to go through all that ritual stuff to heal him right? You could have just cast the spell and get it over with.”

She scoffed as she answered.

“Oh shut up will you? You know already know why so why ask?”

“Well, it’s because I like the way you react.”

Karazhan chuckled lightly when he made his response while Karmen opened her mouth to reply.

However, a sudden sharp pain in her neck forced her to swallow her words.

Her eyes subconsciously widened in shock when she discovered what the cause of the pain was.

A blood-red arrow which embedded itself deep into her neck.

“Cultist raid! Take up arms and defensive positions now!”

A shout echoed but it felt so distant and far away.

She didn’t even attempt to listen to its contents.

Instead, she faced Karazhan, a dreadful and distressed expression etched onto his face.

When she opened her mouth, the blood that accumulated within leaked out like a miniature waterfall.

In spite of the sticky liquid that clogged her throat, she still attempted to speak.

“K-Kara… Karazha…”

But Karmen never got the chance to finish what she wanted to say.

Before she knew it, the world spun for a short moment, only stopping once she felt the coldness of the dirt road.

The last thing she saw was the ground getting dyed in a crimson colour as her sight was slowly consumed by darkness.